The Rat and Rabbit Will Not Go Quietly

Georgina Adam, in her Financial Times column, unearths this interesting coda to the tale of the Chinese bronzes. Remember that Bergé claimed he was happy to take them back (along with his Picasso) and continue to live with them:

The French weekly Le Point has reported that the French government is working on a face-saving solution: the supermarket chain Carrefour, which has invested heavily in China, could be putting together a consortium to pay for the bronzes and give them back to China as “an amicable gesture”.

Carrefour says that the report is “inaccurate” but does not say it is “untrue” and is not prepared to comment further. Christie’s also refuses to comment on the issue, except to say that “the sale has not been cancelled”, and maintains that the Yves St Laurent sale totalled £332.8m, a figure that includes the price for the bronzes.